Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Trump says Capitol riot suspects being treated ‘unbelievably unfairly’

Former president says there were no guns during the riot ‘except for the one that shot Ashli Babbitt’

Eric Garcia
Thursday 08 July 2021 09:39 EDT
‘This is our house’: Trump supporters storm Capitol building

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Former president Donald Trump criticised the way people accused of participating in the riot on Capitol Hill are being treated on Wednesday.

“People are being treated unbelievably unfairly,” Mr Trump said. “When you look at people in prison and nothing happens to Antifa and they burned down cities and killed people.” He also mentioned there were no guns in the Capitol.

“Except for the gun that shot Ashli Babbitt,” he said, in reference to the military veteran whom a Capitol police officer killed during the riot that was an attempt to stop the certification of electoral college votes for the 2020 presidential race. The former president has mentioned her name in recent weeks.

“There was no reason for that,” he said.

Mr. Trump’s comments came during his announcement that he would sue tech companies including Twitter and Facebook in response to their banning him.

A reporter asked Mr Trump about what he did, if anything, to stop the riot given the bans were made largely in response to the attempted insurrection and why he was not able to stop it. Mr. Trump mentioned a Senate report and that “my name wasn’t even mentioned.”

But while the Senate report did not dig into the root causes of the riot, such as Mr Trump telling his supporters to “fight like hell,” the report does mention his name multiple times.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in